Rl. Beddoes et al., STRUCTURE OF A 6-TETRAHYDROXYBUTYL-SUBSTITUTED 5,6,7,8-TETRAHYDROPTERIDINE, Acta crystallographica. Section C, Crystal structure communications, 49, 1993, pp. 1649-1652
The crystal structure of dro-4-oxo-6-(D-arabino-tetrahydroxybutyl)pter
idine tetraacetate. (5), shows that reduction of dro-4-oxo-6-(D-arabin
o-tetrahydroxybutyl)pteridine tetraacetate, (4), with sodium cyanoboro
hydride in the presence of benzyl chloroformate achieves saturation of
the pyrazine ring with regioselective protection at nitrogen N(5).